"The most important thing this summer is not your performance as a ministry machine. The most important thing is your vitality as a child of God - available and yielding to the Spirit's power"

The right quote at the right time.

Finally here in Tokyo.

Words cannot express my tiredness. Fighting off jet lag for the glory of God and the final salvation of the many!

Its passed 9 p.m. here therefore its finally time to rest well. Better update later. Keep praying, this is where the fun really begins!

 

So due to the times in which I blog, I realise my timeline may not be in synched, but I'm sure it will all make sense if you understand my schedule and how I'm writing things at the end of the day/start of the next day but speaking as if it was still that day. Make sense? Wibbley wobbley timey wimey ball of mess.

But we've been at the airport since 2:30 a.m. waiting for our flight. No time nor energy to update how the last day of briefing was, but lots of blessings and grace abounding, elaborate later.

"Oh how sweet the Gospel sounds to ears like mine!"

Almost there. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

So today was another day of prep. Woke up at 7:30 to have a cool morning worship run with a brother in Christ and followed that up with an exhilarating hot shower date with God in sweet solitude. Twas a beautiful way to start my day and although I was a bit tired physically, my soul was well rested and God provided me with a power nap that gave me my second wind to last me the rest of the day. I don't know what else to say, there has just been lots of information being soaked into the fibers of my being from understanding how my teammates are wired by God to the weekly schedule of the mission trip once we get to Japan(I will probably post that tomorrow) in order to prep me and my team brethren for this mission to Tokyo. Topics we have learned thus far are, love God, love my team, learn a new world, and tomorrow is launch a movement. The MC of this mission briefing is holy hilarious if I may add. Spiels about donuts to the d-train will be added to my list of sermonable experiences and holy anecdotes. 

Learning more and more about the individual souls on my God given team is such a blessing. Although there are still some I'd love to have deeper one on one conversations with, but I know that it will come in God's perfect timing. The overall team relationship is really picking up, we are still whorrebly messy sinners in constant need of grace and God help us for we are going to sin against God and one another, but oh may the Gospel shine beautiful in our [deep] intimate holy relationships with one another so that the masses may see that the strength of our group is not how we are binded by many little temporal things, but how we are captivated together by one eternal and gloriously life altering Thing. Therefore, I can see where we will really need God's grace and where we are strong in certain areas and where we are lacking in others due to how our team dynamics seem to be flowing, but I'm certain that linking arms with these brethren to run about in Tokyo will be totally legit. I'm also excited to hear everyone's testimonies, we shared how God has brought us all here to summer project, but we still have yet to share how God has brought us HERE here. 

"How have I been doing personally?" My time with God has been unexaggeratingly delicious and because of that I've been doing worshipfully well. Praise the Trinity! But Ill be honest, part of me wishes I could shadow clone myself in order to be here doing all this while also running about in my other communities like EPIC, Walnut brethren, my local church, etc. and another part of me just really wants to fast forward getting to know one another(not that I don't want to know them, but its just that I'd love to get it done "quicker") and then get to sharing the Gospel to the lost souls while another part is thankful for God's providence with the prep time and pacing He has us in, but then another there is a whorreble part of me that just sinfully wants to bail out on all this and run away to be indulging in fleshly me-centered desires.

So there are obvious blessings that make me shout songs of praise to my God, but let it be known that there are still indeed internal struggles, so keep praying for me and the rest of my teammates because I am still a bi-polar skitzophrat in the faith harped upon by [DM], but His grace is violently and indelibly proving to sustain me. "If you look at your God given days, you'll always have time for priority number one. So the question is, 'Who or what is priority number one in your day/season/life?'"

SELAH

 

So what do you want/desire your team to be like?

The following is what my team came up with for mission team norms. It took us awhile to come up with these, but I enjoyed the process and it was worth it.

[Gospel Centered Norms]

1. Be an intentional and loving community

2. Resolve conflicts in a godly timely way

3. Respect the T's: Tokyo, teammates, time(Ten minutes early is on time)

4. Uplift each other in prayer, accountability, and words (P.A.W.)

5. Holy (and Wise) Carpe Diem!

 

Finally, the holy doctor inside of the fibers of my being is prescribing the TGC 2013 David Platt message on missions in order to take care of any remaining anxiety and cowardice thats mixed into the excitement and curiosity for what is to come in Tokyo. 

 

Every Disciple Making Disciples, Every Church Multiplying Churches - David Platt (TGC13 Workshop) from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

 

ENJOY!

So this is what I pray/plead my pre-bed/rest ritual will look like after any late night talks with brethen of course and in this following order: 1. Commune with God 2. CRElb plus Gospel presentation for the day 3. General update blog on Xanga 4. personal email updates 5. Sweet prayers till I sleep with optional listening to David Brainerd or Worship Music. And my goal is to sleep before 1:30 a.m. with the highest priorities on 1. and 5.

God help me(us)!

So here is a list of my team members that you can pray for and "fun facts/first line of thoughts that come to my minds end about them":

Adriana Yaw - She has a twin thats also going on missions so it was like one person having to raise double(12,000 dollars) due to their many mutual relationships. Oh and she is the other Asian on the team lol

Gabe Icaza - Pancakes and syrup! Long story, but this brother in Christ raised his funds in like 2 weeks going from 40 dollars to 6,000 plus. Blessed by his open outgoingness whenever he shares. 

Heather Brainerd - OMG! She is related to David Brainerd, so I officially get to say that I had class with a relative of Charles Spurgeon(a year ago his name was Joseph Spurgeon) and now I am going on a mission trip with a relative of David Brainerd. She is also a team leader and says that she's a "cryer". 

Jessica Jimenez - She goes to USC along with Gabe and I'm really excited to intentionally talk and get to know not only my brothers, but also my sisters in Christ whom I feel really love the Lord. 

Lester Larios - A brother in Christ who is a year older and I can see how we have lots of common ground in terms of running about and I really enjoyed talking to him during lunch. First time I saw him was at CRU a year ago and he grace drivenly and beautifully preached the Gospel. 

Mark Lange - First brother in Christ I talked to and really got to know and also my roommate during this briefing. Im blessed that he doesnt mind the lights on when he sleeps before me and that he doesn't snore. 

Matt Pfaff - Oldest brother in Christ on our team and team leader, tis a blessing finally being able to see him in person and I look forward to running about with him and my other brethren for the glory of God and the final salvation of the many. 

Sharna Barnard - When asked whats her spirit animal she said "Not sure about this... sounds kinda pagan" and I found that so true and hilarious. I praise the Trinity that my team has a holy sense of humor. 

Julien Baeza - Plays ping pong, goes to CSUF and serves at CRU, and Im going morning worship running with him in the morning so I gotta finish this up and get some rest. 

 

So nothing too [deep] or profound today just wanted to get my blog started, provide the masses with something to pray for besides for me, get the gears in my minds end going for the edifying use of my Xanga, and my heart grace sustainingly focused on eternal matters. But I must truebdetrueb say that I was really blessed by Sunday night and all the brethren who gathered to see me off before I depart for Japan even though I didnt end up sleeping till 6 in the morning. It was really unexpected to see that many souls from the wide range of areas God has placed me in where I run about. I know that by God's divine providence that there are way more than just those souls that extend beyond those who came, but to see a house full of that many brethren that I've poured my heart out for the advancement of His Kindgom and with the Gospel at the center of the night amongst the eating, laughing, games, ping pong, talking, etc. etc., it is just a ridiculous blessing that I know I absolutely do not deserve and all glory be to Christ my King and One True Love. Its an indelible reminder of how loved I am by God and how much grace I am shown to be able to join in on His sovereign plan to glorify Him and partake in the final salvation of the many. 

And now I am getting to know more new souls and already are new God exalting memories being sweetly made! Brief glimpses of God's glory are extending and widening in my life as I see how God not only provided for me, but also for the rest of my team and how He has sovereignly brought us altogether here and now to do His work. I know that its only been one day together and things are still just getting warmed up before we really start running about, but I am inexpressibly excited. But sadly it is now 1:31 a.m. and I can still write so much more, but for now I shall rest(I'm not even going to proofread so dont judge me on my mistakes lol) because I already owe a "debt" to my body and must pay the price for the long run. Soli Deo Gloria!

Two more days till Japan!